ProHipHop: Music Blog Network, MSN Bloggers

A heck of a lot's happening at ProHipHop and it's making it difficult for me to respond to the increasing number of folks who want my attention. So if you've written me and you really think I should respond, feel free to hit me again a week or two after your initial email. Also, if you call me, send a follow-up email. That dramatically raises my response rate.

One bit of cool news is that I've been accepted into the Music Blog Network at Blogads. I'll be getting my ad offer up in the next couple of days and then pursuing the formation of a hip hop specific Blogads network. I've already been told that's a possibility so I hope to announce it soon.

I'm actually thinking in terms of a Hip Hop and R&B Network because then somebody like Kevin R. Scott at daily, who's already a Blogads member, might be recruited (if all goes well). Though ProHipHop rigorously purges the R&B element from its posts, that doesn't mean I can't work across boundaries. However, I don't plan to start an urban network cause we want the suburbs and the sticks in on this too.

In any case, more as this develops. For now, I'm in and I'm happy to be part of Blogads and the Music Blog Network.

I'm also happy to report that my objections to the anonymity of MSN's Filter bloggers seems to have contributed to a mass posting of autobiographical statements by all their bloggers. It's not that anybody other than Oliver Wang at music filter reads ProHipHop, but a number of tech blogs picked up on my post and many quoted this bit:
"Blogging is about personal voice. Launching an official blog without identifying the writers basically reduces it to a content management system and feeds into Microsoft's 'you will be assimilated into the cyborgsphere' public image."

Though Blog Herald didn't run that quote, the following blogs and news services did run a version of it:
WebProNews
PaidContent.org
Microsoft Watch
Om Malik's Broadband Blog
Red Herring

The thing is, if you check out the autobiographical statements of the bloggers at MSN Filter, you'll encounter a diverse group of interesting people rather than a faceless source of news and opinon. I'll have to say my favorite response came from lifestyle filter blogger Diane P. Vadino who wrote:
"Despite reports that these Microsoft blogs are written by state-of-the-art, HAL-esque artificial intelligence, I am pleased to reveal that this is untrue. I am, in fact, human. (Indeed, all of us are, as far as I know.) . . . Now. Enough of that. Hopefully you no longer think I'm a robot, or similarly, wish I were a robot. Although that would be pretty freaking cool."

Wow, either Microsoft's interest in artificial intelligence has born fruit or they've outsourced blogging to DesktopMates. LOL!